Utah guard Pelle Larsson to transfer to Arizona

Arizona has landed a commitment from Utah transfer Pelle Larsson, giving the Wildcats a shooting guard with immediate eligibility.

Larsson chose the Wildcats over Kansas, Stanford, Creighton and others. A native of Sweden, he has four years of eligibility remaining at Arizona, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

Larsson becomes the second player to transfer to Arizona under head coach Tommy Lloyd, joining Gonzaga forward Oumar Ballo. Larsson entered the transfer portal on April 29.

Larsson averaged 8.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 25 games with the Utes as a freshman. He shot a .883 percentage from the free-throw line, second-best in the Pac-12, and .467 percent from 3-point range, fourth-best in the league.

Larsson took over as Utah’s starting shooting guard early in Pac-12 play and reached double figures in points seven times against conference opponents. He scored 14 points on five-of-nine shooting in Utah’s 73-58 win over Arizona on February 4.

Larsson joined Utah after a prolific prep career in his native Sweden. He spent two seasons with RIG Lulea and in 2018-19 earned Eurobasket.com All-Swedish BasketEttan Third Team honors after averaging 17.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists.

He also played for Sweden at the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championships, where he shot a tournament-leading 61.1 percent on 15.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.8 blocks in eight games.

Larsson’s commitment means Arizona could potentially put out a starting five of all international players, as Givony pointed out.

Arizona still has four scholarships open for the 2021-2022 season. Here’s an updated look at the count.

1. Kerr Kriisa
2. Bennedict Mathurin
3. Azuolas Tubelis
4. Dalen Terry
5. Christian Koloko
6. Tautvilas Tubelis
7. Oumar Ballo
8. Shane Nowell
9. Pelle Larsson